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[MattHiatt]

By: Kyle Bors

Food plots are an essential tool in growing and maintaining a healthy deer heard. They provide deer with nutrients during crucial months, whether it be during antler development in the spring or to food supply during winter months after a grueling rut. Another time that is often over looked by many hunters is late summer. A late summer food plot will incorporate above average forage to finish out antler development, as well as provide the does with quality milk for the fawns born later in the year and adequate amount of it.

The local browse in many areas of the country lack specific minerals and nutrients you can provide with a food plot. A mineral supplement such as a “Trophy Rock” can be added to your management plan as well. A mature antler contains up to 11 minerals, two of which (calcium and phosphorus) make up about 33 percent. In areas that lack these important minerals you will be able to recognize a difference in overall development in antler and body size. I would not recommend a regular salt block do to the fact that all you’re providing is salt, which lacks nutritional value. With a “Trophy Rock” there are over 50 different minerals to provide your deer.

Planting a food plot is going to cost a few dollars, so before jumping into it consult a local wildlife biologist for a little assistance. You will enjoy watching your deer filter in and out of the buffet you have laid out for them. Maintain a year around supply of forage and minerals and you will notice a difference in the coming years. Best of luck to you and your new deer diner and keep in mind, results will not happen over night. 

[Mitchell Johnston]

Great article Kyle! I believe the whole key to the food plot is patience. Especially for increasing the number of deer that you see in a hunt. Before planting food plots, there were several days in the season that I would go and not see a deer. The first year that I planted my food plot I began to see an increase in the numbers of deer that I seen. After three years of planting not only has the number of deer that I see increased year after year but also the size and overall health of the deer is increasing. Here in the western region of NC where I live we have very little crops (the local garden only) and the browse does not have enough minerals to provide everything the deer need for antler growth. The food plot that I plant is not but about 3/4 of an acre. Nothing huge, but still a drawing power. Do not underestimate the smaller food plots, they can be well worth your time to plant and hunt. Add the "Trophy Rock" and you have a "KILLER" situation.

Mitchell

[KyleBors]

You bring up some really good points Mitchell.  As far as the size is concerned something is better than nothing.  Fertilizer is another key ingredient often over looked or just ignored.  It will increase the amount of forage you produce and the plants ability to bounce back from the wildlife grazing on it.  I normally hit my food plot every spring with about 150 lbs to the acre of triple 19.     

[6EaglesFans]

First thing what is the trick with the Trophy Rock on the cinderblock in the middle of a puddle? I put my Trophy Rock out last week under a huge Poplar in my woods and the thing is as slick can be. I have not put a trail camera out, I am just guessing it is from deer licking it.

Also here is a tip on fertilizer. I went to the Bedford City Landfill to get some mulch which is $10.00 a pick up load or $20.00 a dump truck load and they were out because the chipper was down. But I did notice a whole other operation going on at the dump. They had piles of Compost Fertilizer turned every 28 days to cook from one pile to the next for 6 months. Than they sell it and it cost me $20.00 a ton for tested well cooked compost with Pot Ash and other key ingredients added to it. What a gold mine, I filled my 5X10' utility trailer with it and my 1500HD pickup bed with it right under 2 tons for $39.00. Check with your local landfills to see if they have compost, it is tested by the EPA and it is great very inexpensive fertilizer and they bucket load it with a loader and everything. If $$ is an issue you cannot beat fertilizer for $20.00 a ton. Compost is light so a Ton goes a long way. One ton is about 3 yards of mulch as a copmarison. I hope this helps.

[MattHiatt]

We use a block ( anything to keep it off the ground would work) to keep mold from forming under the "Trophy Rock."  In a well established site like the one in the photo it will tend to hold a lot of water and if your "Trophy Rock" is sitting in the pool of water it will melt away quickly. 

[6EaglesFans]

Kyle,

 What kind of plot is that, which plants, whose seed?

[6EaglesFans]

Oh okay good tip, they say on the package to put it on a stump. Do they lick it slick?

[MattHiatt]

The plot you see grown is a "Whitetail Institute" No-Plow plot.  The other plot being planted is a "Whitetail Institute" Imperial Clover.

[AlanReed]

Matt,  Can't wait to see the quality deer that those foodplots will produce!

[Brooks Purdy]

Hey guys, I picked up an apple and molasses flavored lick, called Buck Lickers from Walmart about 2 weeks ago. It only costs a few dollars, so i figured I'd try it out. It doesn't taste very good.
No, but seriously, I've got it in front of a trail cam and the deer are hammering it! I just recently put a trophy rock there as well, and they're starting to hit that, too. I've attached a pic of a couple deer that are hitting it hard...

[RichieElam]

Brooks that is a pretty impressive buck!  Good to hear you have some good deer picked out! 

[AlanReed]

Great Picture Brooks!  We have 2 trophy rocks out already, but we are still waiting for a trophy like yours to show up on the trail cam.

[Bret Yates]

Just planted my clover and chicory plot last night, next is the Buck Forage Oats and the last section will be a brassica mix. Just going to need a little bit of rain. 24 days before the NJ Opener.

[J.R. Chojnacki]

I think that the average hunter, or anyone that does not have exclusive rights to private land, should be aware that when you create a food plot or are just baiting in general you are showing others where you are hunting. I say this because it has happened to me on a couple of occasions. Areas that I though nobody would venture into, they somehow found out where I was hunting. Because of this I am very hesitant to bait my deer here in NJ anymore. To be honest I have had more success killing nice bucks in NJ by hunting runs and natural food sources like under white oaks. I've also noticed that the nice racks won't hit the bait or food plots until dark once the season starts and the traffic in the woods picks up.

Wish I had the land to grow a nice natural food plot though.

[KyleBors]

That is such a frustrating scenario that has played out too many times.  Someone that has no business being there in the first place coming in and messing up your hunt for the afternoon.

[J.R. Chojnacki]

I agree, people don't want to put the time in around here. They think they can just walk in the woods and shoot a trophy. It doesn't work like that.

I can remember opening day of fall bow, I'm up in my tree and here what I thought was a deer but instead was some shmo with his climber on his back trying to set up near my bait. I was pissed, he walked out and then has the nerve to come back into my spot to talk to me. I've been hunting this same area for years and know it like the back of my hand. He tries to tell me that he has an apple pile about a hundred yards from me and wanted to know what I was doing there. I felt like plugging him. Still saw deer later that day but give me a break.


Anyone try that C'Mere Deer? I see that it can be disolved and sprayed into an area or onto brush, I though of giving it a try.

[ravi34]

Supplemental Feeding is simply supplying nutrients that are lacking in an animal's primary diet. It accounts for the greatest portion of all costs associated with keeping a cow for a year. Often, cows are grazed on standing forage in the fall and into the winter. Supplementation is a moving target at best, because the quality of the forage is constantly declining; therefore, we usually talk in wide ranges of supplement amounts and kinds since the rate of decline is variable.

When the time comes to begin feeding hay, the situation is a little different. Through the course of a feeding season, the quality of properly cured, packaged, and stored hay will change very little. Although there are still too many variables (age, condition, breed composition, weather, etc.) to calculate a rock-solid supplement program, the "target" is considerably more stationary.
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[becky noel]

Food is necessary in our life

[keithcar25]

I am BIG into doing food plots for deer now.  I bought some Whitetail Extreme 2 years ago and finally planted 1 acre of it last fall.  Did ok last fall before getting mowed down by the deer, so I didn't really know how it was going to turn out.  Well, fertilized it and sprayed with Select (grass herbicide) then brushed hogged it once early this spring.  Now looks OUTSTANDING.. take a look for yourself.